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Government responds to contractor security clearance complaints
Posted Sep 29, 2010
The Cabinet Office has responded to an online petition suggesting that IT contractors should be able to clear themselves to work on 'sensitive' Government projects.
The petition, posted online in June 2010 by contractor Glenn Andrews, complained that contractors are being turned down for roles because their security clearance may have lapsed. Over 800 people signed the petition.
Mr Andrews suggested that individuals should be allowed to "pay and get themselves security cleared in order to obtain a new role thus giving government departments a much better choice of skilled candidates."
Cabinet Office responds over security clearance
The Government has responded to the online petition:
"We are therefore unable to speculatively vet individuals in advance of them applying for government jobs or contract work. Also, vetting involves a degree of intrusion into an individual's private life so must only be applied when absolutely necessary, so for legal and policy reasons, it is not available in the way suggested in this petition."
Reflecting the long-held view that security cleared contracts are effectively a closed shop for many, the Government response reminds employers that they should not, generally, required prospective job candidates to hold sufficient clearance before applying to contract roles - as detailed in their vetting policy statement.
However, the Government is still receiving notification from contractors who feel excluded from security cleared roles and says it is working closely with industry bodies such as the PCG, REC and APSCo to raise awareness of these issues.
A dedicated email address has also been set up for people to send in examples of adverts which state that existing security clearance is required in order to apply or bid for a contract: vettinggroup@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk.
For more background, you can read our popular guide to security clearance for contractors.
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